


Floral Lungs

by yuuki



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ):, Canon Compliant, Explicit Language, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, flowers? flowers, i am bad at summaries just read pls its the hanahaki disease au, i do not know how to properly use tags, keith is dumb and oblivious, klance, uhh its a bit rushed at the end bc i got lazy oops forgive me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 19:22:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14361972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuuki/pseuds/yuuki
Summary: When Keith gets infected by the Hanahaki disease (whatever the hell that is) he thinks it's pretty obvious that the disease is wrong and he doesn't love anyone.Anyways, fuck Lance. It's his fault.





	Floral Lungs

In all honesty, Keith wasn’t surprised when he started coughing up flowers. It wasn’t like he was in space where this could totally happen or anything.

The others were, surprisingly, more concerned about Keith’s floral problem than he was. It first happened when he had been looking at Lance, when they were talking on the surface of a Galra ridden planet. They had just taken care of the problem and sent the Galra on their way home, so the Paladins were taking their time and resting up before heading back to their Lions and the Castle. Hunk was lounging on a rock in the sun while Shiro stood in the clearing and watched over Lance and Keith to make sure they didn’t bite each other’s heads off. Pidge was off doing who knows what, and no one thought to question it anymore.

“Keith, can you communicate with cats?” Lance asked. He was pestering Keith about his Galran heritage. While the topic of Keith being part Galra didn’t hurt like an open wound anymore, he was still a little sore about the subject. So he felt like punching Lance in the face for asking such an idiotic question, but he refrained. He hoped that Shiro would be proud of him for managing his anger.

“Well, it’s not like I can _meow_ ,” Keith said, his eyebrows drawn low over his eyes in a scowl. Lance didn’t look phased by the answer at all, his large smile still plastered over his face.

“Yeah, but if you tried, could you?” Lance questioned further, flashing Keith a one of his famous toothy smiles. It seemed like he’d do anything to get Keith to admit his feline powers, one way or another.

“I don’t know! I’ve never tried, and in case you haven’t noticed, there aren’t many cats in space for me to chat up!” Keith snapped, throwing his hands into the air. He was getting exasperated with Lance’s bullshit.

“That’s ridiculous, Keith, of course there are cats in space! Haven’t you ever seen those, like, cats in space with tacos t-shirts?” Lance said, a hand coming up to his chin thoughtfully.

“No, I lived in the middle of a desert for a year. I don’t know anything about humans,” Keith huffed.

“Whoa, Keith, buddy, did you just make a joke?” Lance slapped his hand over his heart, pretending to be shocked. His eyes were wide and there was a slight sparkle in them from the sunlight filtering through the alien trees, and Keith couldn’t help but smile softly at the absurdity that was Lance. Lance smiled back, but it wasn’t the arrogant grin he usually had. His eyes scrunched up at the corners and his lips weren’t stretched half across his face, instead forming a small, crooked smile.

That’s when Keith felt the itch in his lungs. If he had to pinpoint the exact moment the disease took hold of him, it would be then. He scowled angrily at the strange sensation in his lungs, knowing he probably looked like a damn fool.

“Uh, Keith? You okay there?” Lance asked, his doe eyes still wide as he waved a hand in front of Keith’s face.

That was the last straw. Keith opened his mouth to tell Lance to fuck off, but was instead overcome by intense coughing fits. It kind of felt like someone shoved a trowel full of dirt down his throat.

Keith couldn’t help but think about the time he swallowed a watermelon seed and his foster sister told him that watermelons would grow in his stomach. Maybe the watermelon finally grew in there after all these years. It wasn’t like he was in space where that could totally happen or anything.

“Keith? What’s wrong?” Lance asked, hand hovering inches away from Keith’s shoulder. His relaxed expression was replaced by concern.

Keith nodded brusquely, since he wasn’t able to reply. It kind of felt like something was crawling up his throat. Maybe an alien possessed him and laid alien eggs in him and now those alien eggs were hatching. Disgusting.

Unfortunately, Keith’s coughing attracted the attention of Shiro and Hunk, who slowly made their over.

“What’s going on here?” Shiro asked, being the manly leader he always was. Hunk seemed far more stressed out about the whole ordeal than anyone else, which was typical of Hunk.

“Lance, what did you do to Keith? I know you don’t like him, but you can’t seriously try and kill the guy!” Hunk scolded Lance, his eyes large and panicked.

“What? I didn’t do anything!” Lance insisted, which, for once, was actually true. Keith thought he’s blame Lance anyways, because Lance always did something to piss Keith off.

“Calm down, Hunk. I’m sure Keith is fine,” Shiro reassured him, but the worry in his eyes betrayed his words.

The coughing finally subsided, but as soon as Keith brought his hand away from his mouth, he saw something something white littering his hands. _White_ _blood…?_ he thought, staring at the whiteness in confusion. _No. Petals._

There were white flower petals on his hand. He just coughed up petals. They were small but broad, sort of resembling butterfly wings. Keith ran his gloved thumb over it, and he could feel how soft the petals were even through his armor.

“Dude,” Hunk said, staring at the flower petals in his hand. “Did you just cough up a flower?”

Keith turned to the others, his eyes as wide as Hunk’s had been earlier. He had almost forgotten they were there because of the disbelief he felt at seeing the flowers. “I guess I did?”

What an interesting end to the day.

 

-

 

Pidge sat on the floor of the medical ward with her laptop in her lap, typing away. Lance and Hunk stood over her, watching her work. Keith’s lung flowers were in a jar beside Pidge’s knee.

Keith himself was sitting on an examining table, his feet kicking up restlessly as Allura and Coran checked him out. They didn’t want to put him in a healing pod without knowing what the problem was. Shiro stood close by, watching Coran check Keith’s vitals.

After the whole ordeal on the planet, Shiro decided to make everyone return to the castle. He thought that maybe something in the planet’s atmosphere infected Keith, and he didn’t want to risk the health of his other pilots. Smart.

Lance thought that Keith swallowed the flower and was just coughing it back up (“Did you eat the fucking flower?” Lance demanded, snatching the flower from Keith’s palm and examining it. “Why would you do that?”).

The only thing that made that better was that Shiro smacked Lance for cursing.

“I’ve got it!” Pidge exclaimed, standing up with a twinkle in her eye. “It’s not an alien flower at all! It’s a white ginger flower from Earth! It wasn’t that hard to find out with a bit of googling,” she grabbed her laptop and the jar and walked over to Keith, showing him the picture of the flower on the screen and the flower in the jar. They were identical.

“Okay, that’s great,” Keith muttered. “We know what kind of flowers I’m coughing up now. How is that going to help me? How did they even get in me in the first place? I haven’t been on Earth in ages!”

The tense silence in the room was almost tangible, and Keith almost felt bad for snapping at everyone. He did that a lot, so he tried not to worry about it too much.

“Well, at least it’s not something completely foreign,” Hunk said with a weak smile, probably trying to make everyone feel better. It didn’t work.

“Everything looks good, Keith,” Coran said, taking off his weird Altean version of a stethoscope. “You’re completely healthy, except for the flower thing,” he turned to Allura and they shared a look, one that could only possibly mean they knew something.

Shiro, bless his perceptive soul, didn’t miss the exchange. “What is it, Princess?” he asked, uncrossing his arms.

“Well, it seems that Keith has the Hanahaki disease,” Allura said, her smile tense.

“The what?” Pidge asked, an eyebrow raising in confusion.

“The Hanahaki disease. It’s a disease that causes flowers to grow in the victim’s lungs, and they end up coughing them out. The only way to get the disease is if you suffer a one-sided love. There are cures, but we can’t do the surgery. It’s too risky. I thought only Alteans could get it, but I guess humans can get it too, or perhaps it’s your Galra side…” she trailed off, looking lost in thought.

Keith’s mind short circuited. A one-sided love? Impossible. Keith didn’t love anyone. He never has and he’s sure that he never will. “That’s ridiculous!” he said, crossing his arms and tilting his chin up the way Shiro does sometimes. “I don’t love anyone! How could I get this? You’re lying. There has to be another way I got it!”

Coran gave him a sympathizing look. “I’m afraid not, my boy. That’s the only way to get it. It was quite common back on Altea-”

Shiro cut him off before Coran could go into another one of his ramblings about Altea. Not that they didn’t like hearing stories about the lost planet and civilization, but now was not the time for reminiscing. “What are the cures?”

Coran blinked, seemingly surprised about the question. Then he lit up, striking a weird pose. “Well, there were a few. The first one was surgery to get the flowers removed, but it was risky and costly, and it would remove the victim’s feelings and memories for their loved one. We don’t have the access for that, so unfortunately we can’t perform the surgery on Keith.”

“And the others?” Shiro pressed.

“These ones are more time dependent. You can cure the disease if the victim’s loved one returns their affections, or if the victim loses their feelings for their loved one.”

“I don’t love anyone!” Keith insisted, getting irritated that no one was listening to him.

“What if Keith never loses his feelings for the person he loves and the person he loves never ends up loving him back?” Hunk asked, his hand raised like a child in school who had a question.

“That’s depressing, Hunk,” Pidge murmured.

Now even Hunk was turning on Keith. At least he could count on Pidge and… and Pidge.

“I’m not sure,” Allura admitted. “There was never a case like that back on Altea. If the disease was prolonged, usually the victim just… well, they died if they weren’t cured.”

“It’s fatal?!” Hunk screeched, his arms flailing. “Why didn’t you say that earlier?”

“Time to find a good intergalactic surgeon then,” Keith said, hopping off the table. He wasn’t very concerned about the fatal part- if he died, he died. It wasn’t like he wasn’t prepared for it. When you were fighting in a space war, you kind of had to be. “I’m going to train, come for me when you’ve all come to your senses and realized I don’t love anyone.”

“Maybe Keith does love someone but he doesn’t know it yet,” Lance piped in. The room went silent again. Keith honestly forgot Lance was still here, and he was sure the rest of the crew were feeling the same way. That didn’t matter, however, because as soon as Lance spoke, Keith felt that same itch in his throat.

“That’s possible,” Allura said slowly. “Rare, but possible.”

Keith bit his tongue and did his best to keep from coughing, to no avail. He sputtered out petals, more and more falling from his lips by the second.

The coughing finally subsided, a pile of flowers laying at Keith’s feet. Lance picked one up, twirling the flower between his fingers with a bit of a nostalgic look on his face. “Say what you will about the disease,” he said, “but you can’t deny that these flowers are beautiful.”

Keith had to agree. They were beautiful; he just wished they’d go be beautiful in someone else’s lungs. “Whatever,” he growled. “If you like them so much, you can have them.”

Lance’s eyebrows flicked up as he smiled innocently at Keith. “Really? I can't believe you’re giving me flowers. How sweet of you.”

Keith scoffed and left before Lance could say anything else. He could only handle him so much in a day.

 

-

 

When Keith woke up the next morning, there was no burning in his lungs. It felt like the flowers had never even been there at all. He smiled and took a deep breath, relishing the way the air felt.

Then Lance knocked on his door and ruined it all. “Hey Keith, buddy, Allura wants us all on the main deck in thirty minutes. Something about finding you that intergalactic surgeon.”

Keith groaned when he felt that sensation in his lungs. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll be there soon.”

The sound of Lance’s footsteps pattering away was the end for his lungs. He hacked up flower after flower, and by the end of it, his torso was hanging off his bed.

He groaned again just to show the universe how displeased he was with it before he got up and started getting ready.

Thirty minutes later, Keith found himself on the main deck and wishing he never woke up. Shiro and Allura were arguing over the whole surgery and fatality thing, and Coran was trying to say something to them to no avail. Hunk and Pidge were huddled over a laptop as they researched more about the Hanahaki disease, and Lance was…

Wait. Where was Lance? Keith turned around in a circle, looking for his least favorite paladin. Lance was nowhere to be found, which was odd considering he was the one who told Keith to wake up in the first place. Sighing, he sat down with his arms crossed securely over his chest. He didn’t care where Lance was. Fuck Lance.

Still, Keith couldn’t help but turn to look at the doors every five seconds, waiting for Lance to come back.

Lance finally came back in, after eleven earth minutes (yes, Keith kept track. No, it wasn’t because Keith _cared_ about Lance or anything- he didn’t, shut the fuck up, Shiro- he was just annoyed with him and his bad punctuality). He was holding a few books in his hand, along with some handheld gaming device he bought at the space mall.

“Here,” he said, thrusting the books at Allura. “The books you asked for.”

Allura took them with a smile, and Keith felt irritation spike in him. Allura never treated him as well as she treated the other paladins. He knew it was because his entire race blew up her planet, but that was ten thousand years ago. He wasn’t even alive ten thousand years ago. She was getting better with her prejudice against him, but still. It made him mad. “Thank you, Lance.”

Lance smiled in return then went and sat in the corner with his game, quiet shooting sounds coming from the device. Keith continued to pout where he was.

“Keith, we think we might have found someone to perform the surgery. However, it’s expensive, and we can’t really risk you losing all your memory of the person if its someone on the team,” Shiro informed him.

Keith snorted. Anyone on the team? Impossible. Hunk wasn’t his type, Shiro was like a brother to him, Coran was way too old (yuck!), Pidge was like a sister to him, and Allura… well, Allura was a girl, and Keith didn’t like girls. That left Lance, who constantly got on Keith’s nerves. There was no way he had _secret feelings_ for anyone on his team.

Shiro gave Keith a small smile. “I know you think you don’t like anyone, but you have to for the disease to take hold.”

“Whatever,” Keith growled. “Let’s just get these goddamn flowers out of my lungs.”

In the corner, Lance sighed. Keith didn’t want to know why.

He probably just died in his game.

 

-

 

Keith made sure to be extra quiet as he snuck out of his room. If Coran or Allura found out he wasn’t sleeping, they’d most likely beat him up and then put his battered body on display for the other paladins to show them what would happen if they stayed up late.

He just wanted something to eat. He didn’t eat much at dinner because of his flower problem, and because Lance kept staring forlornly at his own meal that it made Keith sad, too.

It was times like this that he was glad he was part cat alien. His eyes were much more adapted to the dark that a regular human’s so he didn’t need a flashlight. His feet were also naturally quieter. It was perfect to escape Altean detection.

After munching to his heart’s content, Keith hopped off the counter and decided to go to the observation deck. He usually skipped it to go train, but now he wanted to see what the stars looked like as the Castle zoomed by them.

He guessed he really shouldn’t have been surprised when he found Lance there, huddled up in blankets with a flashlight next to him. Keith approached him slowly, not wanting to startle him, but Lance still flinched when Keith stopped next to him.

“Oh, hey,” Lance murmured. “Didn’t see you there. What are you doing awake?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Keith responded as he settled down next to Lance.

Lance raised an eyebrow at Keith, a low whistle escaping his lips. “You know, this is the first time I’ve seen you wear something other than armor or your everyday clothes.”

Keith shrugged and looked down at his clothes. He was wearing a thin white t-shirt with matching sweatpants, and he wasn’t wearing any shoes. He wiggled his toes just because he still wasn’t used to the free feeling of being barefoot. “It’s quieter,” he said.

Lance turned his head to look out the window again. “Yeah. I just thought that you were the type to always want to be ready in case of an attack.”

Keith fiddled with the hem of his shirt. “I guess I realized you guys could handle any enemies, too. I don’t have to be the only one fighting.”

Lance turned to look at Keith again, his eyes wide and mouth slightly open. Then his lips broke out in a large smile, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Wow, I never thought I’d hear that from you. That’s good character development, right there.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “Shut up. We’re real people, not cartoon characters. I can’t have character development.”

Lance started laughing then, almost falling over. That’s when Keith felt the itching in his lungs again, and he started coughing up lower after flower before he could stop it.

“Whoa, you okay there?” Lance asked, immediately ceasing his laughing. He raised his hand like he was going to put it on Keith, then lowered it like he thought better of it. Keith couldn’t help but be a little disappointed.

After the coughing finally stopped, Keith nodded. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them before burying his face between them. “Sorry,” he mumbled.

Lance shifted beside him, like he was reaching over Keith. “Don’t worry about it, not your fault,” he said, his voice low and soothing.

Keith turned his head so it was still resting on his knees but he was looking at Lance. Lance had a flower in his hands, twirling it the way he did when the flowers first appeared. They sat in a calm sort of silence for a little bit, with the occasional shaking from Keith.

“That came out of my lungs,” Keith said to break the silence. “You shouldn’t be touching them.”

“But they’re pretty!” Lance protested. “I want to keep it.”

“Disgusting. You can’t have my lung flowers,” Keith said with a disdainful sniff.

Lance started laughing again, this time much lighter. His laughter faded into silence once more, and Keith was content just sitting there.

“You know, in Cuba, we call these _mariposas_ ,” Lance informed him after a while. “That means butterfly.”

Well, that made sense. The flowers definitely looked like butterflies. “You have them in Cuba?” Keith asked, shifting so he was facing Lance completely. He didn’t know why, but he really liked hearing about Lance’s time in Cuba with his family. Maybe it was because Keith didn’t have a family.

“Yup. They’re the national flower. They were originally native to India, but we liked them so much that we took them,” Lance said, a sad sort of smile on his face. “My siblings and I would twirl them around like this. Made it look it they were flying.”

Keith watched as Lance twirled the flower. It did look like it was flying.

Then Keith’s mind stuttered to a halt as he realized what this conversation implied. He was coughing up white ginger flowers, the national flower of Cuba, which also happened to be Lance’s home country.

Fuck.

“Uh, I have to go,” Keith said abruptly, standing up. Lance gave him a questioning look.

“You okay?” he asked, and Keith nodded and ran out of there before he changed his mind and stayed.

 

-

 

Keith was exhausted the next morning. He didn’t sleep at all, instead tossing and turning all night as he thought about what it would be like to kiss Lance.

Now they were all in the commons as Allura explained their surgery options. It seems like she, Shiro, and Coran found a good surgeon after all.

However, Keith didn’t want the surgery anymore. He didn’t want to lose all his memories of Lance. He’d rather die from the stupid flower disease than forget Lance. So that’s what he said.

“I don’t want the surgery anymore.”

Everyone in the room went quiet and stared at Keith, which made him feel nervous so he tried sinking into the couch.

“We found you a good surgeon because you kept insisting on one, and now you don’t want the surgery?” Shiro questioned.

Keith shrugged. “Sounds about right,” he said. He’d have to keep his answers as vague as possible to avoid further prying.

“Why?” Hunk asked. Well, so much for avoiding further prying.

“I just don’t want it,” Keith said, crossing his arms and glaring at nothing in particular. That would shake them off.

Lance chose that moment to show up. He was still wearing his pajamas and his hair was sticking up all over, like he just rolled out of bed. He had a steaming coffee mug in his hands. He had bought a coffee maker the same time he bought the cow, so now the paladins were able to enjoy something other than space goo.

“What did I miss?” he yawned, stretching an arm high over his head. As soon as he was done doing that, he raised the coffee cup to his lips and took a sip.

“Keith doesn’t want the surgery anymore,” Pidge said.

Lance nearly spit out his coffee. Actually, he did. “Too hot,” he explained with a mutter as he rubbed at the wet coffee spots on his clothes. “But anyways, why don’t you want the surgery anymore?” he wasn’t looking at Keith, but it was obvious the question was for him.

“I just don’t,” he growled for the millionth time. Why couldn’t they understand that Keith just wanted to live in peace?

Lance took after sip of his coffee, this time downing the scalding liquid with ease. “I see,” he said around the cup.

Shiro sighed. “Keith, we have to do something about it. We can’t have you coughing up flowers in the middle of a battle with the Galra.”

Oh, now they were going to bring _Voltron_ into this. Of course. Without Keith, there would be no Voltron and everyone in the universe would die. Thanks, Keith, for being a selfish asshole. “Don’t you think I know that?” he snapped. “Besides, I haven’t coughed since this morning. I think I’m doing better.”

Shiro and Allura shared a look. “Fine,” he said. “But if it gets worse, we’re taking you to the surgeon, whether you want to go or not.”

Keith shrugged. “Fine!”

He’d just have to make sure he hid his coughing from the rest of the paladins from now on.

 

-

 

The following days were tough for Keith. It consisted of him talking to Lance, getting flustered, then running away because he had to cough out his love flowers. Granted, the coughing was getting better. He didn’t cough out as many as he used to.

However, blood was starting to join the petals. And the coughing hurt much more now.

Still, he didn’t want to trade his health for his memories of Lance. He was still going by that whole ‘would rather die than forget Lance’ thing.

Shiro was threatening to take Keith to the surgeon more each day, claiming he wasn’t healthy. Keith told him he didn’t care if he was healthy or not.

Tonight was worse than the others. His lungs felt like there were thorns in them, and each breath was a wheezing pain. He just finished coughing up more blood than petals.

Wrapping his blanket around his body, he trudged down to the observation deck. He knew Lance was going to be there, and if he was going to die, he’d rather die with Lance.

Lance looked up as soon as Keith entered, flashing him a warm smile. The aching in Keith’s lungs grew, along with an aching in his heart.

“Hey,” Lance greeted. His smile slowly faded as Keith got closer. “You doing okay? You don’t look so good.”

Keith nodded and settled down next to Lance, their shoulders brushing. “Don’t feel good,” he admitted after a while, feeling like he owed Lance at least that much. Lance sighed and stretched an arm out over Keith’s shoulders, as if he was debating whether or not he should pull Keith into a hug. When he hesitated for longer than a second, Keith buried himself into Lance’s side.

Lance let out a low laugh, and Keith felt it vibrate throughout his whole body. “Sorry,” he said breathily. “Wasn’t sure if I should. I know how you are about touching.”

Keith hummed, closing his eyes. His lungs didn’t feel so bad when he was this close to Lance. No, they didn’t feel bad at all.

He was just beginning to doze off when Lance shifted against him, startling him out of his sleep. He blinked his eyes open and looked at Lance, who was staring at him in return.

They stayed like that for a couple minutes, until Keith started getting uncomfortable with the eye contact and squirmed against him. “What?” he asked.

“You’re just like a fucking cat,” Lance said before he grabbed Keith’s face and kissed him.

Keith made a noise of utter surprise, and Lance pulled away with a deep blush on his face. “Fuck, I’m sorry!” he stammered. “I don’t know why I did that. Shit. Fuck,” he grabbed fistfulls of his hair, yanking on it.

Keith smiled and grabbed Lance’s hands, pulling them away from his hair. Then he kissed him.

It was horribly awkward at first, with more teeth than lips. Then Lance tilted his head and it became- not perfect, but much less terrible.

They had to stop, though, because Lance started smiling too much.

“I’m sorry,” Lance giggled against Keith’s lips. “I’m just very happy.”

Keith felt himself smiling before he could stop it. “Me, too.”

 

-

 

They both went to Lance’s room after that, where they made out then passed out. Keith loved it. He was very happy. His lungs only had a minimal burning feeling in them now, and it was rapidly disappearing.

They made sure to wake up early enough so that the others wouldn’t be suspicious of the fact that they had spent the night in the same room. Now Lance was making them both coffee, while Keith sat on the counter top and ate food goo cereal.

Lance turned to Keith to hand him his coffee, a smile blossoming across his face. “You are just like a cat,” he remarked.

“Last time you said that, you kissed me,” Keith said as he licked his spoon.

“Do you want me to kiss you now?”

“It would be nice.”

Lance chuckled then stepped up to Keith, putting his hands on either side of his hips. When Keith was sitting on the counter like this, he was taller, so Lance had to tilt his head up to properly kiss him. Keith loved it.

Then the doors to the kitchen opened and Pidge and Hunk stepped in, effectively ruining their moment.

“Oh, gross,” Pidge muttered, taking off her glasses and cleaning them harshly with her shirt.

Hunk smacked her shoulder, almost sending her flying across the room. “I knew it! You owe me that hard drive from that robot now!”

“Shut up, Hunk!” she screeched in return.

“You bet on us?” Lance asked, giving them a glare.

“Actually, we bet on _you_ ,” Pidge corrected him as she adjusted her glasses. “I said that you wouldn’t say anything about your feelings for Keith until he died, and Hunk thought that you’d say something right before Keith died.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s great, totally makes everything better-”

“What’s going on here?” Shiro interrupted, his Altean entourage behind him.

“Keith is cured!” Hunk informed them.

Shiro raised an eyebrow and turned to Keith. “Is this true?”

Keith shrugged, hunching his back to make himself appear smaller. He couldn’t just bury himself in the counter like he could in the couch, so this was the best he could do. “I guess so.”

Coran, bless his soul, spun around and struck one of his weird poses. “Excellent! Let’s head to the medical ward to see if this is true right away!”

They all filed after Coran, and then Keith found himself on another countertop as he was thoroughly examined.

“Looking good! The only problem is your lungs- they are a bit torn up on the inside, but it’ll heal in no time as long as you get plenty of kisses from your missus!”

Shiro facepalmed hard enough for all of them. “Thanks, Coran.”

“So much for not liking anyone, eh?” Lance chirped, giving Keith a large smile.

“Oh, disgusting,” Pidge said, then she and Hunk filed out of the room. Shiro cleared his throat and followed them, Altean entourage trailing after him.

Lance gave Keith a soft smile and stepped up to him, planting a kiss on his lips. “I’m glad you don’t have floral lungs anymore,” he said, his lips brushing Keith’s as he spoke. “I’d be very sad if you died because you were in love with me.”

Keith snorted. “Whatever,” he muttered as he hopped off the counter. Then he turned to Lance an offered a smile of his own. “I’m glad, too.”

Lance smiled and grabbed Keith’s hand, pulling him back to the others.

Yeah, Keith was very glad he didn’t have floral lungs anymore.


End file.
